Samadhi Pada

Definition - What does Samadhi Pada mean?

Samadhi Pada is one of four chapters fromThe Yoga Sutras, the first known classical text on yoga, credited to an Indian sage named Patanjali around 2000 years ago. Offering 196 “threads” of wisdom, these sutras serve as a philosophical guidebook, offering guidelines for living a more meaningful and purposeful life.

Samadhi Pada is the first chapter, comprised of 51 sutras about enlightenment. Samadhi Pada is, therefore, the first and foremost resource on the foundations of yoga. It opens with a definition of yoga, as a state which emerges when the fluctuations in the mind are stilled. The chapter then delves into deeper definitions of these fluctuations, explaining that unity with the Divine can only arise when the mind is separated from a sense of self or ego

Samadhi Pada expresses the goal of concentration, as a means of achieving vairagya (detachment) through ahbyasa (practice). Patanjali explains that this is possible only with a balance between effort and letting go. Obstacles to mental stillness are outlined in Samadhi Pada, followed by a description of the resulting state of absorption. This dissolving of the self is described as the key to ending mental pain and suffering.